1894 - 95 .] Dr R. Munro on Lake-dwelling Researeh. 
405 
were canoes, bronze dishes of Roman origin, bracelets and beads of 
glass, bronze brooches and other ornaments, crucibles and iron slag, 
perforated axe-heads and hammers of iron, fragments of Samian 
ware, querns, hammer stones, a leather shoe stamped with a pattern, 
etc., etc. From the undoubted Roman element which characterised 
a considerable number of these relics, the habitable period of the 
Dowalton lake-dwellings must be relegated back to the early 
centuries of the Christian era. 
Since the publication of Dr Stuart’s paper, in 1866, little progress 
was made in the exploration of Scottish crannogs, although traces of 
them were occasionally noticed throughout the country, till the 
discovery and excavation of the Lochlee crannog in 1878-79. This 
was the commencement of a series of explorations, conducted under 
the auspices of the Ayr and Galloway Archaeological Association, 
which culminated in the excavation of no less than six typical 
crannogs throughout the counties of Ayr and Wigtown. From a 
careful consideration of the relics thus collected there can be no 
ambiguity as to the testimony they afford of the peaceful occupation 
of their owners. Indeed, among a very large and varied assort- 
ment of objects indicating the prosecution of various industries, the 
war-like element is but feebly represented by a few iron daggers 
and spear-heads, one or two tips of the cross-bow bolt, and a 
quantity of so-called sling stones. Among the rarer objects the 
following may be mentioned : — two spiral finger-rings of gold, and a 
crucible containing particles of this metal ; a gold coin of Saxon 
origin — supposed to have been originally a forgery, as it was made 
up of two thin gold plates and a copper core ; two cup-marked 
stones, one of which had the cup surrounded by two concentric 
circles ; a pendant of jet in the form of a cross inscribed in a 
circle and ornamented with small incised circles ; a conical object 
of rock-crystal highly polished and having some resemblance to 
the settings on early book-covers ; a flat piece of ash wood having 
both sides ornamented with an incised spiral pattern ; and a 
remarkable fringe-like apparatus made of the long stems of a moss 
{PoUjtriclium commune). 
But the scientific interest of the investigation of crannogs is not 
confined to the purely archaeological remains found among the 
debris. The structural features of the islands and of the houses 
